A Cowboy’s Story Begins Again
by Ryoko Hakubi
Summary: What happens after the last session? Things have changed greatly, and not just in appearances... How can Spike deal with different emtions at the same time? UNFINISHED


Title: A Cowboy's Story Begins Again  
  
By: Ryoko Hakubi  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop. Or any songs I use, I just own this plot. And I am surprised I'm writing a Cowboy Bebop fic. ------  
  
Oh how I love you so, lost in those memories And now you've gone  
  
I feel the pain, feeling like a fool, Adieu  
  
------  
  
Spike ran up the stairway and the two clash weapons. Vicious cut Spike twice and Spike shot his katana out of his hand. Spike put his hand on the katana and Vicious put his on the gun.  
  
"Julia passed away . . . Let's end it all," Spike took a step forward.  
  
Vicious smirked, "If that is your wish."  
  
They exchanged weapons. At the same time Spike shot Vicious in the chest and Vicious slashed Spike in the gut. Vicious falls. Blood spilled from Spike's gut. He looked up into the brightening and recalls . . . . Julia's final words. "This is . . . . a dream."  
  
Spike smiled, "Yeah. Just a bad dream."  
  
Clutching his bleeding stomach Spike descended the stairway to meets a legion of confused, baffled and surprised syndicate members. He smiles and points his index finger at them, "Bang."  
  
And that's it. The end, finish, the conclusion, to a cowboy's story. A syndicate member kicked him, "He's dead, leave him. He's not worth our time."  
  
"But-But sir, shouldn't we-" A short man was cut off.  
  
"I said leave him! Now come on!" His long footsteps echoed on the floor as the other member ran after him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Faye sat on the chair across from the yellow couch. "This is the end, isn't it Jet?"  
  
Jet leaned against the wall of the ship, "The end of what?"  
  
Faye sighed, "Everything. The end of our lives. The end of the Bebop. The end of everything we love!" Love, a word she hardly used, and she knew it.  
  
Jet looked down at his shoes, "I don't know Faye, I just don't know."  
  
Faye lit a well-needed cigarette; "I wonder how Ed's doing." She refused to show her tears.  
  
"And Spike?" Jet lifted his head to look at the Poker Alice.  
  
"Yeah. him too." She puffed out a circle of smoke. "I hope. I hope he comes back alive. And Ed better come back too." She let the nicotine fill her lungs.  
  
Jet crossed his arms around his chest, "Keep prayin'. It will be a miracle if he comes back. And Ed. . . . she'll make her own decisions."  
  
Faye smashed the cigarette into an ashtray, "I wouldn't have ever dreamed this would happen."  
  
"Days will pass . . . . And only time will tell." Jet sighed and stood up strait.  
  
"Should we go look for him?" Faye stood up after Jet and cracked her back. "There's still a chance, and you know me, I don't like to wait." She flipped her hair out of her face, "You coming?"  
  
Jet shook his head, "Nah, I'm gonna wait here in case Ed wants to communicate and come back."  
  
"Good luck," she said and opened the door.  
  
"You too . . . . find him, will ya?" Jet smiled for the first time since Spike left. Faye nodded her head and walked out the door and onto her smooth zip craft the Red Tail.  
  
"Spike, you better be alive." She whispered to herself and took off into space.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Spike? Where the hell are you?" Faye walked around and pulled her coat tighter around herself. "You alive!" She looked around and saw his bloody mess. "Oh . . . . Spike . . . ." She knelt down beside his gory body.  
  
Faye felt his pulse. "Well, your alive, but not for long. At least, maybe . . . if you do go, I get to say goodbye." Faye sighed, "You idiot. Come on, lets get you to Jet, he'll know what to do."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Faye walked around the Bebop. Ed was back and hyper as usual, with her close companion Ein. Faye walked into the kitchen where Jet was staring at Ed's computer. "How longs it been Jet. Since I found Spike?"  
  
"Two months. We're lucky the hospital let us take him home, you know how he hates it there. Ed found a bounty for me, I'm gonna need her help so she's coming along."  
  
"Maybe I should have left him there, he could be with Julia," she leaned against a wall and rushed her fingers threw her shoulder length hair. She smoothed out her tight blue jeans and straitened her yellow shirt.  
  
"Don't say that. It wouldn't be the same without him." Jet stood up.  
  
"He's not even awake. Everything changed, Jet, everything we know!" Faye slammed her fist on the wall she leaned on.  
  
"I know Faye, but some things changed for the better. Everyone is back on the Bebop, and hopefully, Spike will wake up soon." Jet scratched the back of his head. "He's was more fortunate than Julia . . . . and Vicious."  
  
"Don't say those two names in front of me again, please!" Faye walked over to the counter holding her head. "He would be more fortunate if he wasn't such a dumb ass and forgot about them!"  
  
Jet groaned, "I know. Take care of him while Ed and I are out, all right?"  
  
"I always take care of him! You guys just leave me here!" Faye yelled as Jet walked Ed out.  
  
Faye looked in the living room at the injured man. "Dumb ass," she mumbled and made her way to the fallen cowboy. She took a cloth and wiped his face. "You didn't even think about me. All you cared about was Julia, and killing Vicious." Faye took up the small empty space by Spike and sat down, "I loved you Spike, but your Julia was worth more I suppose."  
  
"Spike, just wake up . . . . please." Faye put the cloth down and looked at his sleeping form. "If only you cared," she stood up and brushed the non- existing dirt from her bottom. "Happiness is just another word."  
  
"Faye?" Spike moaned. Her eyes widened larger than bottle caps and she turned around slowly.  
  
"S-Spike? A-Are you.?" Faye stepped closer and looked into his now open miss-matched eyes.  
  
"Hey," he said in his 'I'm-so-cool' and 'nothing-can-hurt-me' way, "Was I gone long?"  
  
"Spike!" Tears brimmed Faye's eyes, but she refused to let them fall, "Welcome back, Spike." Spike smiled.  
  
"You changed a lot, Faye." He eyed her up and down, "Not to sluty anymore."  
  
Faye tilted her head and smiled, "I'd hit you, but I'm afraid I'd knock you into a comma."  
  
Spike tried to laugh but stopped because Jet's bandages where too tight. "Mind losing these things?"  
  
"Sure." Faye started to untie the bandage around his fit chest; "You need them changed anyway. And to let you know, I've been taking more care of you than Jet."  
  
"You that worried?"  
  
"It wouldn't be the same without you, Spike. Jet and Ed are out getting a bounty. I should tell them you're awake."  
  
Spike grabbed her wrist with his uninjured arm, "No, knowing the Bebop we need the woolong, and when they hear I'm awake they'll just come back here, with nothing."  
  
"Well, to let you know, something's have changed." Faye yawned.  
  
"Like what?" He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, for one, I paid my debts," Spike gasped, "I don't dress . . . . well, like I used to. What else?"  
  
"I'm sure I'll find out soon, what have we got to eat?" Spike stood up.  
  
"Whoa, hold on cowboy, we still have to rewrap you," Faye took out some bandages. "Sit!" Spike sighed and sat back down on the yellow couch. Faye wrapped the wound on his left arm, "Two months you where out cold, you had everyone worried."  
  
Faye moved onto the large wound on his fit stomach. Spike watched her intensely; "You really shouldn't be worried about me."  
  
She finished tying the cloths around him; "Why shouldn't we be? Like I said before it wouldn't be the same without you."  
  
He laughed, "Right. I accomplished that part." Spike picked up a pack of cigarettes and popped one out and placed it in his mouth. Mumbling around it: "Hand me that lighter, will ya?"  
  
Faye took the lighter and lit his cigarette; "These are going to kill you one of theses days." Spike shrugged and blew smoke out of his mouth.  
  
"Why should I care?" He retorted.  
  
Faye took the cigarette from his mouth, put it in hers, and absorbed some nicotine. Spike stared blankly at her as she put it back in his mouth. "I'm surprised you aren't dead already."  
  
Spike smirked around the cigarette; "So did I," he laid back and put his hand behind his head, "Life is but a dream."  
  
"More like a nightmare with you around," she laughed, "What do you want to eat?" She made her way to the kitchen and looked back at him.  
  
"You cook?" Spike asked  
  
"I do now. What the hell do you want before I changed my mind?"  
  
"How bout some beef and bell peppers vegetarian style," his stomach growled.  
  
Faye shrugged her shoulders, "Suit yourself."  
  
"Wait!" He called and put his cigarette in the ashtray, "You have something better, don't you?" He ran after her into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, you already ordered. You can't change your mind now."  
  
"Faye!" He grabbed her arm and spun her around into his. "What do you have? Come on, I'm starving."  
  
"Check it out," she jabbed her thumb towards the fridge blushing inwardly. He passed her and made his way to it. Not too romantic, she thought, but it's Spike none the least.  
  
He took out some cold pizza, "Heat this up for me will ya?"  
  
"Heat it up yourself! It's pizza not a big French meal!"  
  
Spike shrugged and ate the pizza cold, and in one bite. "You're so cruel. First you ask me what I want, then you say I can't change what I want, then you won't even heat it up for me."  
  
Faye yawned and walked back to the main room of the Bebop. "By the way, I turned your room into my new closet."  
  
"You did what?!" Spike yelled after her choked on another slice of pizza. "Just kidding!" She called back to him and laughed.  
  
"Bitch," he mumbled and slammed the fridge's door shut.  
  
"I heard that!" Faye yelled as she walked back into the room with her pack of cigarettes. Lighting one she placed it in her mouth, "It's good to have you back, Spike."  
  
He stretched, "Great to be alive."  
  
Faye blew out smoke, "Is anything going to be normal again?" She paused to think and with a smile added to her statement: "Or as normal as it can be for a bounty hunter."  
  
Spike sighed, "Normal? I don't know anymore . . . . But I will tell ya this, It's not the end for me."  
  
"Yeah." She scratched her neck and put the cigarette out. "It's been hard without you. Having to get all the bounties ourselves."  
  
"Well, that's gonna change. Cause what I see is me getting bounties again." He rushed his fingers threw his hair, "It's gonna be normal soon. The only things that's gonna change is . . . . My love life" He laughed and tried to forget about Julia.  
  
Faye shrugged and threw the empty pack of cigarettes away. "I need to go shopping," she reached in her pocket and took out a note. "Jet gave me the shopping list."  
  
Spike snatched it from her; "We got woolong to buy it with?"  
  
"For once, yeah. We're going to land on Mars. Jet said to meet him in some restaurant. He's gonna be surprised when he sees you."  
  
Spike laughed, "Yeah. Ed must be with him."  
  
"Yeah . . . She left with her dad. She came back not to long ago when he was killed. We don't talk about it to her. She hasn't changed much since she left."  
  
"Oh, alright. Things just keep changing."  
  
"Mmm-Hmm," Faye walked over to where they stored the ships.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jet walked into a café with Ed on his tail. "May I help you sir?" A waiter asked and walked them to their seats.  
  
"Yes, you can. My name is Antonio and this is my daughter Susana," he motioned his hand to Ed. "And this is," he held up a picture and began to cry, "My long lost son! Have you seen him?"  
  
The waiter looked at the picture of "Antonio's son" who was the bounty Ed found off the Internet. Wanted for sexual abuse, murder, and skipping bail, not worth much, but the Bebop needed some extra woolong.  
  
The waiter nodded his head, "Right over there," he began to cry from the touching tale.  
  
Ed bounced, "Ed-I mean . . . .What's my undercover name again Jet-person?"  
  
"Heh, kids," Jet laughed and pulled Ed by the collar of her shirt to the bounty.  
  
Jet tapped the man on his shoulder, "Hey, son." He turned around and Jet punched him square in the face.  
  
"YAY! Jet-Person got bad man!" Ed squealed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Faye walked threw the shopping market and pushed the cart, "I hate this! This place should be burned!"  
  
Spike put his hands in his pocket and whistled behind Faye. Faye's eye twitched over the hatred of shopping, "Stop whistling."  
  
He whistled louder, "Why?"  
  
"Because you're a bounty hunter that smokes too much and has no care for his body!"  
  
"What's that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Everything!" She put food in the cart and crossed off objects on the list. "Done! Oh thank god!" She walked over to the snobby looking woman snapping her gum.  
  
"Ya got any food stamps?"  
  
"NO! I'M NOT POOR!" She put everything on the checkout counter.  
  
"Well, it looks like ya are." Faye slapped the women, checked everything out herself, paid, and stalked out the door with Spike on her heels.  
  
"Wow. you got touchier about small stuff."  
  
"I hate that girl," Faye mumbled.  
  
Jet tapped his foot as Ed ran around him in a circle, "Where is Faye?"  
  
"Faye-Faye is probably taking advantage of Spike-person's body! She's a pervert!" Ed picked the kid by the scruff of her shirt.  
  
"Ed . . ." he sat her down, "Don't pick on her yet. Her hearts weak right now."  
  
"Hey Jet! Thought I'd never get here! You get the bounty?" Faye called walking up with Spike by her side.  
  
"Spike-person awake! Faye must used her magical touch, wink-wink," Ed giggled and grabbed onto Spike. Jet was obviously speech less.  
  
"Miss me?" Spike said in his I'm-oh-so-cool way.  
  
A/N: Wow, wasn't that special. I said I was surprised I was writing a Cowboy Bebop fic because I usually just write Tenchi Muyo. But Cowboy Bebop has captured my interest and gave me some ideas to write about. R/R please, I'll be your best friend! 


End file.
